Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

smith

In force, Mar.[March] 2, 1839.

AN ACT authorizing the improvement of the Big Muddy river.
1

$20,000 to improve Big Muddy river.

Improvement to commence at mouth.

$1000 to Monroe county for road.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That there be, and there is hereby, appropriated out of the internal improvement fund, the sum of twenty thousand dollars, to be applied and expended under the authority and direction of the Board of Commissioners of Public Works, for the improvement of the navigation of the Big Muddy river.2 The said improvements shall be made by removing snags and other timber obstructions in the bed of the stream, by excavating bars when deemed necessary, cutting and clearing timber from the banks, and making cut-offs, or otherwise changing the channel, when found necessary: which said improvements shall be commenced at the mouth of said river, and be continued upwards as high as the said appropriation can be judiciously expended. There shall also be appropriated the sum of one thousand dollars to the county of Monroe, to be paid to the county commissioners of said county, and appropriated on the road from Caho creek to Kaskaskia.

Approved, March 2, 1839.

1On January 14, 1839, Edward Smith introduced HB 145 in the House of Representatives, and the House referred the bill to a select committee. On January 18, the select committee reported the bill with an amendment, and the House laid the bill on the table. On February 14, the House took up the bill again and adopted one out of three proposed amendments. On February 20, the House considered and rejected an additional amendment, decided against a new motion to lay the bill on the table, and voted to pass the bill by a vote of 52 yeas to 21 nays, with Abraham Lincoln voting yea. On February 26, the Senate referred the bill to the Committee on Internal Improvements. On February 27, the committee reported the bill without amendment, and the Senate approved a member offered amendment and passed the bill. On March 1, the House agreed to amend the Senate’s amended version of the bill and laid the amendment on the table. The House then voted against a motion to lay the bill and amendments on the table by a vote of 12 yeas to 49 nays, with Lincoln voting nay. After the vote, the House concurred in the Senate’s amendments. On March 2, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Journal of the House of Representatives of the Eleventh General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at Their Called Session, Begun and Held at Springfield, December 9, 1839 (Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1839), 207-08, 234, 397, 417, 464-65, 537, 571-72, 588, 596; Journal of the Senate of the Eleventh General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at Their Called Session, Begun and Held in Springfield, December 9, 1839 (Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1839), 375, 421-22, 435, 474, 492, 495.

2On January 18, 1839, Representative John Logan requested that the House of Representatives increase the appropriation allowed in this bill to $50,000 because the amount given would not fully clear the Big Muddy of obstructions. Milton Carpenter refuted the claim, arguing complete clearance was not necessary because Jackson County was so well serviced by railroad. Logan made a subsequent speech further specifying that, should the amount remain at $20,000, the state should not specify that improvements be spread throughout the river's course but that localizing them to its mouth on the Mississippi would be most advantageous because it would allow easier transportation of timber.
Illinois State Register, 25 January 1839, 2:3-4; 8 March 1839, 2:3-4.